I was once told every body of water in Florida has an alligator in it. I think that was more of a law of averages thing, but at least one alligator was trying to live up to that billing by hanging out in a Bradenton couple's pool.

Sharon Bente told ABC affiliate WWSB she woke at 4 a.m. last Thursday to find an 8-foot, 3 1/2-inch-long gator adrift next to a little pink floaty. She rushed back in and told her husband John and the couple called the Sheriff's Department, which had a trapper come and remove the animal.

The alligator had crashed through the couple's pool screening before taking its unwelcome dip. It was taken to a gator farm in Arcadia.

Part of me thinks, OK, we're in Florida. A gator in a pool, how big a deal is that? Well it's just another sign of our growing population (almost 20 million in the Sunshine State) getting up close and personal with the wild animals around us.

So gator encounters, bear encounters and even the notorious shark "bites" will continue to increase as we keep building and spreading our footprint while the state's wild population looks for a place to fit in.

On this particular night, that place was a pool for an alligator. That's not a great situation for anyone involved.